1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of diagnosing a golf swing and more particularly to a system of diagnosing a golfer's swing with high accuracy by using a computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a golf swing-analyzing apparatus, a motion-diagnosing apparatus as shown in FIG. 11 is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,794,018.
The motion-diagnosing apparatus has the TV camera 2 photographing a swing motion of a person to be diagnosed 1, a processing device 3 connected to the TV camera 2, and a CRT 4 displaying diagnosed results. Reflection tapes are bonded to the person to be diagnosed 1 as the motion points P1 through P6.
The processing device 3 has the means for converting image data transmitted from the TV camera 2 into digital signals, the means for extracting the coordinate of each of the motion points P1 through P6 from the image data, the means for computing numeric data showing the characteristic of the motion from the coordinate of each of the motion points P1 through P6, the means for evaluating obtained numeric data by comparing it with the reference numeric data, and the means for diagnosing the swing based on evaluated values.
In the swing-analyzing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-614 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-154996, the sensor is installed on the golfer's wrist to find the angle of the wrist relative to the axial direction of a golf club so that the player's motion is detected and the player's swing is analyzed.
In Japanese Patent No. 2794018, description is made that numeric data of the angle of a golfer's arm and that of a golf club is computed from the coordinate data obtained by tracing the motion points P1 through P6. But how to utilize the golf swing-analyzing apparatus is not clear. Thus the applicant should clarify the method of diagnosing the swing. There is a high possibility that the tracing of only one motion point P1 is incapable of computing the angle of the golf club accurately. To diagnose the golfer's swing, it is necessary to trace not only the motion of the golfer's waist and wrist, but also the motion of the golfer's shoulder and other parts. That is, an inclusive diagnosis is necessary. Thus the golf swing-diagnosing method disclosed in the publication is insufficient.
Diagnosing the swing by utilizing the numeric data is described in the specification. But a professional golfer's swing is fundamentally different from an average golfer's swing in their potentials. Therefore it is meaningless to diagnose the swing by comparing the professional golfer's swing and the average golfer's swing with each other. To match the numeric data (for example, head speed) of the average golfer's swing with that of the professional golfer's swing, not the swing but the average golfer's potential, for example, physical strength should be increased.
In the swing-analyzing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-614 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-154996, there is a possibility that the person to be diagnosed swings in a different way from her/his original way of swing owing to a feeling of physical disorder caused by the sensor installed on her/his body. In addition, the use of the sensor makes it difficult to measure motions of many positions of her/his body. Moreover the amount of information obtained by installing the sensor at only the wrist is too small to diagnose the swing accurately.